Uncle Nick has been a valued part of the Rafiki Mwema team since July 2015. With a strong guiding belief in the power of hope his presence in our Boys House has helped heal their trauma and repair relationships. Here he shares a bit about his work with our children.
What most interested you in working with our children at Doyle Farm?
I love working with children and I wanted to help them understand that there is hope – I strongly believe in second chances. Through Rafiki Mwema, I can offer my support and lend my shoulder to kids that have gone through a lot of violence, stigma and neglect from people they call family. These children have been let down by people they once trusted, have never felt loved and have lost hope.
By understanding the boy’s degree of trauma I am able to understand when they feel low. I then work with them heal their traumatic experience and teach them to trust again. This involves modelling behaviour and helping them believe that good people still exist. I hope that they can then see that they can also be good people in our society. Through acceptance we teach them to believe in themselves and make appropriate decisions in life, so they all have a well moulded future.
Tell us a little bit about your job and what it involves.
My job is varied. It involves:
- Therapeutically parenting all children under my care through Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy.
- To be responsible for the social, emotional, and physical health of children under my care.
- To ensure that all children have a clean, comfortable, and safe place to live. This involves cleaning and maintenance.
- Support and escort all children to medical appointments and court appointments by preparing them socially and emotionally.
- Ensure that any medication prescribed is kept safe and administered in timely fashion and ensure the physical wellbeing of all children is well observed.
- To work as a team member by maximising the environment for all children and staff.
- Going for outdoors activities, playing soccer, swimming, adventure bike riding etc
- Creating time for sessions with my key children
- Monitor progress of all children in the house and school as well.
- Offering Unconditional Positive Regards.
Uncle Nick, what is your favourite thing about being an Assistant Manager of the Boys’ House?
Through my post as an Assistant Manager I have been able to hold the house together and in order by helping our boy’s achieve their best – physically, emotionally and academically.
I have been able to bring an intense sense of support and loyalty to the organisation through support of our vulnerable and traumatised children. Through the role I have developed a deeper understanding that all negative behaviours arise from an unconscious fear base of stress. This approach to life helps me avoid being judgmental and created a deeper level of patience and motivation. Results with our children are not obvious or immediate but I know they will come in time.
Just like Uncle Nick, our close knit team at Doyle Farm are all passionate about what they do. To discover more about our team visit Our Team page.
